It is important to monitor the change in volume of an animal's organ over a period of time or during a physiological or other event, or other session.
Breastfeeding is medically important to infants' wellbeing and development. It is important to verify that a sufficient volume of milk is ingested by the infant during the breastfeeding session. A deficiency in natural mother milk requires supplementation. It is useful to monitor the amount of breast milk ingested by an infant on a real-time basis during a breastfeeding session as the volume of milk ingested is indicative of the amount of nutrients ingested by the infant and may indicate the appropriate time to cease the breastfeeding session. Especially with smaller infants, it is important to accurately monitor the volume of milk ingested by the infant during a breastfeeding session.
Ensuring that an infant has ingested a sufficient volume of mother milk is also important for a mother's mental and emotional well-being and to eliminate other issues as potential causes of an infant's uneasiness. For example, if an infant cries for an unknown reason, the mother can more easily identify the cause for crying once the mother has eliminated hunger as a reason for the crying. In addition to a mother's concerns, there are several medical situations where having knowledge about the amount of milk the infant ingests is critical for the infant's development and health, such as with premature babies or infants suffering from growth retardation, diarrhea or other causes for loss of fluids or nutrients.
Direct breastfeeding by an infant develops an emotional and psychological bond between mother and child and is desirable. One method for determining an amount of volume of milk ingested by an infant is to pump the breast milk into bottles where it can be measured accurately and then feeding the infant from the bottle. This method removes the intimacy of direct breastfeeding and requires the use, cleaning and storage of bottles, pumping devices, artificial nipples, heating devices and other associated products.
Availability of a device that is able to measure the amount of milk ingested by an infant by nursing, non-invasively and without interfering with the natural nursing process is highly desirable for mothers and healthcare facilities. It would be desirable to provide an apparatus and system that provides for direct nursing by the infant and which provides immediate and continuous feedback regarding the volume of breast milk withdrawn from the breast and therefore ingested by the infant during the breastfeeding session.
It is also medically important to be able to monitor the change in volume in other organs or other body parts such as may be swollen due to edema or lymphedema.
The disclosure addresses these and other needs.